Catholic News
- Vatican prefect, newspaper pay tribute to Teilhard de Chardin; skirt views on race, eugenics (CWN)
With one headline describing him as “a Moses of the 20th century,” L’Osservatore Romano devoted two pages of its March 27 edition to Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), the French Jesuit philosopher and paleontologist whose views on race and eugenics have come under increased scrutiny over the past decade. - Cardinal Parolin encourages nations to 'choose path of negotiation' (Vatican News)
In an address to COMECE (the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU), the Pope’s Secretary of State said that “war is always a defeat for humanity” and that “dialogue remains the only viable path.” “The Holy See has always championed dialogue as the most effective means of resolving disputes,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin. “We encourage all nations to choose the path of negotiation over confrontation.” “The European Union was built on the principles of solidarity, respect for human dignity, and justice,” he added. “These values must not be abandoned in times of difficulty but rather strengthened.” - Arizona parents credit Cardinal Pell for child's 'miracle' healing (Daily Mail)
An 18-month-old boy who fell into a swimming pool and did not breath for 52 minutes has recovered fully, after his parents prayed for the intercession of the late Cardinal George Pell. Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney reported the inexplicable healing during an event at Campion College, inaugurating a new building dedicated to the cardinal. Archbishop Fisher relayed the news that the boy, named Vincent, had been sent home from a hospital in Arizona, showing no ill effects from the accident. - 'Tell Congress to defund Planned Parenthood and affiliates,' pro-life action alert urges (Human Life Action)
The National Committee for a Human Life Amendment (Human Life Action), which works closely with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on legislation, has urged Americans to “tell Congress to defund Planned Parenthood and affiliates.” “Please send a message to your representatives today and join those who are visiting members of Congress for Pro-Life Lobby Day, with the message that Planned Parenthood and affiliates should not be receiving hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to destroy life,” the action alert stated. “Another element of Planned Parenthood that is problematic is that they also distribute ‘gender-transition’ drugs—including to minors,” the alert added. “These drugs are experimental, dangerous and do serious harm to children’s bodies.” - Vatican 'foreign minister' marks legacy of nuncio who aided Jews (Vatican News)
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, has begun a three-day visit to Hungary, where he will take part in an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Angelo Rotta, the apostolic nuncio to Hungary from 1930 to 1945. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, has honored Archbishop Rotta for his efforts to save thousands of Jews from the Holocaust. - Montreal archdiocese: redevelop church properties to ease housing crisis (CTV)
The Archdiocese of Montreal has announced plans to form a real-estate program that will devote unused church properties to “pressing community needs.” The Roman Catholic Real Estate Corp. of Montreal, a non-profit enterprise, will work with government and community organizations to “leverage real-estate development as a tool for community benefit.” Housing experts note that many churches that are no longer open for worship are located centrally, and could be sold for modest prices that would allow for new development of affordable housing. - Vatican newspaper article describes Deneen as most 'interesting of Trump's intellectuals' (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
In an article written for the international news section of L’Osservatore Romano, Lorenzo Castellani described Professor Patrick Deneen of the University of Notre Dame as “undoubtedly the most rigorous and interesting of Trump’s intellectuals.” Castellani, a research fellow at Luiss University in Rome, discussed Deneen’s 2023 book, Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future. Castellani concluded by describing it as “an important book for understanding what mentality, what values, what objectives are shared by at least some of those who surround Donald Trump in the White House today.” - Kentucky lawmakers overturn ban on 'conversion therapy' (Religion Clause)
Kentucky lawmakers have overturned Gov. Andy Beshear’s 2024 executive order banning “conversion therapy” for minors. The executive order defined conversion therapy as “any practice, treatment, or intervention that seeks or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.” The governor vetoed the legislation overturning his executive order; lawmakers, in turn, overrode his veto, by margins of 78-20 in the state house and 31-6 in the state senate. - Ivory Coast bishops rue exclusion of candidates from presidential ballot (Fides)
Following the exclusion of three leading opposition candidates from the provisional presidential ballot, the bishops of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) called on authorities “to ensure a peaceful climate and an electoral process without the exclusion of any candidate,” the Fides news agency reported. “Ivory Coast is at a crucial turning point in its history,” said Bishop Marcellin Yao Kouadio, president of the bishops’ conference. “We therefore call for strengthening its ethical foundations and democratic legitimacy by deciding to politically include all candidates for a fair, transparent, and peaceful presidential election.” The West African nation of 30 million (map) is 39% Christian (23% Catholic), 36% Muslim, and 25% ethnic religionist. - Polish president meets with Cardinal Parolin (Vatican News)
With Pope Francis not holding meetings as he recovers from double pneumonia, Cardinal Pietro Parolin met on March 28 with Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was in Rome for a Jubilee pilgrimage. The conversation centered on international affairs, “with a particular focus on the war in Ukraine, as well as security and pace in Europe,” the Vatican disclosed. The meeting took place on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II. President Duda prayed at the tomb of the late Pontiff on Thursday before his meeting with the Secretary of State. - Father Spadaro calls for 'rapid theology' (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
In an interview with the Vatican newspaper, Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ, called for a “rapid theology.” “If society moves in tumultuous and rapid waters, theology is called to enter without delay,” said the undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. “Rapid theology does not mean hasty or superficial theology, but rather a reflection that accompanies the flow of history in real time, without waiting to speak after the fact.” “Rapid theology is demanding but not impossible: it is a matter of exercising timely discernment—even communal and synodal—enlightened by grace, so as not to lose the pace of the Gospel in the flow of events,” he added. “It is not a question of despising Tradition, but of avoiding reducing it to a sterile exercise in restoration.” - Over 300,000 Germans left the Catholic Church in 2024 (Katholisch)
The German bishops’ conference has reported that 321,611 people formally removed their registration as Catholics in 2024, as the number of Catholics in the German population dropped below 20 million. The exodus was actually less severe than in the previous two years. In 2023, more than 400,000 Catholics dropped their registration; in 2022 the figure peaked at 520,000. Germany’s “church tax” imposes a surtax on the levies of those who declare a religious affiliation. The funds from that surtax are turned over to the denomination, providing the main source of the enormous wealth of the Catholic Church in Germany. Inactive Catholics therefore have an incentive for declaring their departure, to avoid the surtax. - US commission names 16 'egregious' violators of religious freedom (USCIRF)
The governments of 16 nations—Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam—engage in, or tolerate, “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations” of religious freedom, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2025 annual report. The commission recommended that the US State Department designate these nations as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) and include a dozen other nations in its “special watch list.” The 2025 annual report refers dozens of times to the persecution of Catholics in various nations. The commission, whose members are appointed by the president and House and Senate leaders, is chaired by Stephen Schneck, a retired Catholic University of America professor. - Vatican schedule for Holy Week lists no celebrants (CNS)
The Vatican has released a schedule for Holy Week and Easter, without listing the celebrants for major liturgical events. In a reflection of uncertainty about the recovery of Pope Francis, the schedule indicates that the usual events of Holy Week and Easter will be presided over by prelates of the “Papal Chapel”—a group that includes the cardinals residing in Rome as well as the Pontiff. The schedule includes most of the usual liturgies of Holy Week and Easter. But the list does not include the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. In recent years Pope Francis has chosen to preside at that ceremony—which includes the washing of feet—somewhere outside the Vatican. The schedule released by the Vatican also includes the Mass for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, which will also see the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, on April 27. It is not yet clear whether the Pope’s recovery will enable him to attend that event. - Share the faith with the spiritually poor, Vatican City official says in Tokyo (Fides)
Speaking at Shinseikaikan, a Catholic student center in Tokyo, the secretary general of the Governatorate of Vatican City State said that “it is important to share material goods with the poor, because in this way we can give each other the necessities of life and preserve our fundamental dignity as human beings created in the image of God.” “However, we must not forget to share the richness of faith with the spiritually poor,” Archbishop Emilio Nappa continued. “I firmly believe that special attention must continue to be paid to this aspect of the commitment to Shinseikaikan.” He added: Do not forget to teach the Church’s social teaching, both through the catechesis you live in your lives and in the catechesis you address in the classrooms to catechumens and the faithful. Your witness helps us walk the path of forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace. It is an important message of great persuasive power. - Abuse victims' group charges top Vatican cardinals negligent (SNAP)
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has charged that several prominent leaders of the Roman Curia have failed to investigate charges of clerical abuse. In a lengthy open letter to Pope Francis, SNAP says that the provisions of Vos Estis—the Vatican document designed to hold bishops accountable for their handling of abuse complaints—has failed. Peter Isely, speaking for SNAP, said that Vos Estis “allows bishops who have covered up abuse to investigate bishops who have covered up abuse.” SNAP lodged complaints against Cardinals Peter Erdo, Kevin Farrell, Victor Fernandez, Mario Grech, Robert Prevost, and Luis Tagle—all prefects of Vatican dicasteries. - Holy Land vicar deplores scope of child casualties in Gaza (L'Osservatore Romano)
Father Ibrahim Faltas, OFM, vicar of the Franciscan province in the Holy Land, said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper that “the sheer number of children killed in Gaza is horrifying.” “Families in Gaza are typically large, and the population is very young,” said the vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, when asked why “no other war has seen such a high percentage” of child casualties. “The killing of innocent children, who are blameless and incapable of causing harm, is a stain humanity will never be able to erase from its history,” he said. “Estimates suggest that around 20,000 children have been orphaned,” Father Faltas added. “One of the great tragedies of this war is that we’re unable to help: humanitarian aid can’t get through ... It’s devastating to be so close, yet so powerless.” - Nearly 850 who allege clerical abuse compensated in France since 2022 (La Croix)
In the past three years, 1,580 people who allege they experienced sexual abuse in the Church have applied for compensation to the French bishops’ National Independent Authority for Recognition and Reparation. The body, which has 22 case workers, has rendered 852 decisions, 99% of which have involved financial compensation. The average compensation in 2024 was $39,350; the maximum possible compensation is $64,800. “Among the applicants, 66% are men, and 34% are women,” according to the report. “The average age is 61,” and “52% of victims were between 11 and 15 years old”—suggesting that the latter half of the 1970s was the epicenter of the clerical abuse scandal in France. - Vatican diplomat renews call to eradicate modern slavery (Vatican News)
The Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the Organization of American States called for “unanimous” efforts to eradicate modern-day slavery. “If we close our eyes and ears to this phenomenon today, we, too, will be complicit in it,” Msgr. Juan Antonio Cruz Serrano said on March 25, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. (Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, inaccurately referred to Msgr. Cruz Serrano as an archbishop in its article. The Spanish priest is not a bishop.) - Nuncio hails Jordan's work on behalf of peace (AsiaNews)
Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso, the apostolic nuncio to Jordan, praised the nation’s government for its efforts to contain the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “find a solution, together with other Arab countries.” “Jordan is trying not only to mediate, but also to promote real help to the Palestinians,” he told AsiaNews, the agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. The nuncio’s remarks follow a January visit to the nation by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope’s Secretary of State, during which he praised the nation’s king for promoting interfaith harmony and welcoming refugees. - More...